Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow

Today was my official last day of work (although I really haven't done much since Wednesday in general). We had a happy hour to celebrate, which was fun. My husband finally got to meet a lot of the people I have talked about over the past few years (he had met a few of them already). It felt very strange to leave my first job. It was a good proving ground - I learned a lot and met some fantastic people that I would be lucky to work with again.

What made it feel even a little more weird was this unusual situation where I was due up for my annual review but was, of course, leaving to go back to school. Still, both I and my team wanted to complete the review and document my activities / progress over the past year. That was finished earlier this month and I just had my debrief today. Incredibly, the result was a promotion! How many people get promoted on their last day of work?! I was honestly quite impressed with my company that they gave the go-ahead on that decision when I had one foot out the door and was extremely happy about it. It was a very nice way to go out, and of course, leaves the door open to return.

Other than that, I have just been running around like a chicken with my head cut off. :) I'm in the midst of packing my apartment, finalizing my pre-term registration details, and getting ready for my trips to Central and South America (all of which needs to be done by next Thursday). I guess the craziness that has been my life recently is good practice for what is coming up next!

Death by a million papercuts

Somehow I never thought getting into school would require so much paperwork. There is a veritable mountain of it. I have a page-long list of stuff I have to complete (and soon). Those who are in the ranks this year already know what I am talking about... those who will be applying this year... just an FYI... you can look forward to lease agreements, financial aid forms (LOTS of those), health insurance, health information (immunizations), termination / leave policies, course registration, waiver forms, etc. Maybe this is some pre-pre-term test... can you organize the barrage of requests and find obscure documents that were long-forgotten (for instance, I had to go through my old records from undergrad to find syllabi to provide course waivers... that took awhile... and my immunizations records?! ha! still trying to figure out who might have those... obviously a doctor somewhere... question is, which one).

I could have been better prepared for all this. I know I will get it all done, but I hate running around trying to do this mundane stuff when there are so many more exciting topics to think about! All I can say is that I really do feel for the international applicants... you guys have it way worse and I pity you for having to wait in lines for a visa and all that. My advice to all those would-be applicants? Once you get your admits, don't wait until the last second to start on all this paperwork. Compile financial documents, get your health records, try to come up with past course materials (if you need them to waive a course ... I know some schools don't allow it), and get on top of getting things squared away as soon as possible.

While I struggle w/ my paperwork, I also have to deal with a new issue that reared its ugly head. I was in a car accident last week and we were just informed by the insurance company that the car is considered totaled. :( I loved my car, so I was sad to hear that. We are trying to decide whether to buy a new car with the insurance money or not. We were going to go down to one car anyway but were planning to sell my husbands car since mine was better (until some stupid 16-year-old girl ran into it anyway). Fun times.

Other than all that, not much else is new over here as I await my move to Philly. I'm wrapping up things at work. I'm having mixed feelings as I near my departure date. I am certainly going to be sad to leave my colleagues and friends ... they are great and I really can't tell you how much I'm going to miss them ... but I am also clearly excited to move onto school. Two weeks to go!

Till next time...